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Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later
absolute monarchy Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...
) specific to the
Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovite Russia, Muscovite Rus' or Grand Principality of Moscow (russian: Великое княжество Московское, Velikoye knyazhestvo Moskovskoye; also known in English simply as Muscovy from the Lati ...
and its successor states the
Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I in ...
and
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...
. In it, the
Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
possessed in principle authority and wealth, with more power than
constitutional monarch A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
s counterbalanced by a legislative authority, as well as more religious authority than Western monarchs. The institution originated during the time of Ivan III (1462−1505), and was abolished after the
Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
.


Alternative names

Imperial autocracy, Russian autocracy, Muscovite autocracy, tsarist absolutism, imperial absolutism, Russian absolutism, Muscovite absolutism, Muscovite despotism, Russian despotism, tsarist despotism or imperial despotism.


History

Ivan III (reigned 1462-1505) built upon
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
traditions and laid foundations for the tsarist autocracy which with some variations would govern Russia for centuries.Peter Truscott, ''Russia First: Breaking with the West'', I. B. Tauris, 1997,
Google Print, p.17
/ref> Absolutism in Russia gradually developed during the 17th and 18th centuries, replacing the
despotism Despotism ( el, Δεσποτισμός, ''despotismós'') is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. Normally, that entity is an individual, the despot; but (as in an autocracy) societies which limit respect and ...
of the
Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovite Russia, Muscovite Rus' or Grand Principality of Moscow (russian: Великое княжество Московское, Velikoye knyazhestvo Moskovskoye; also known in English simply as Muscovy from the Lati ...
. After chaotic
Time of Troubles The Time of Troubles (russian: Смутное время, ), or Smuta (russian: Смута), was a period of political crisis during the Tsardom of Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Fyodor I (Fyodor Ivanovich, the last of the Rurik dyn ...
(1598-1613), the first monarch of the
Romanov dynasty The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to ...
,
Michael of Russia Michael I (Russian: Михаил Фёдорович Романов, ''Mikhaíl Fyódorovich Románov'') () became the first Russian tsar of the House of Romanov after the Zemskiy Sobor of 1613 elected him to rule the Tsardom of Russia. He ...
(reigned 1613-1645), was elected to the throne by a
Zemsky Sobor The Zemsky Sobor ( rus, зе́мский собо́р, p=ˈzʲemskʲɪj sɐˈbor, t=assembly of the land) was a parliament of the Tsardom of Russia's estates of the realm active during the 16th and 17th centuries. The assembly represented Russi ...
("assembly of the land"). During Michael's reign, when the Romanov dynasty was still weak, such assemblies were summoned annually. The Romanov dynasty consolidated absolute power in Russia during the reign of
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
(reigned 1682-1725), who reduced the power of the
nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...
and strengthened the central power of the tsar, establishing a bureaucratic
civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
based on the
Table of Ranks The Table of Ranks (russian: Табель о рангах, Tabel' o rangakh) was a formal list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of Imperial Russia. Peter the Great introduced the system in 1722 while engaged in a s ...
but theoretically open to all classes of the society, in place of the nobility-only
mestnichestvo In Russian history, ''Mestnichestvo'' (russian: ме́стничество, ; from ме́сто, a position) was a feudal hierarchical system in Russia from the 15th to 17th centuries. ''Mestnichestvo'' was a complicated system of seniority wh ...
which
Feodor III Fyodor III Alekséyevich (in Russian: ''Фёдор III Алексеевич'') or Feodor III Alekséyevich (9 June 1661 – 7 May 1682) was the Tsar of Russia between 1676 and 1682. While disabled and paralyzed from birth, he managed to pass ref ...
had abolished in 1682 at the request of the highest boyars.Nicolai N. Petro, ''The Rebirth of Russian Democracy: An Interpretation of Political Culture'', Harvard University Press, 1995,
Google Print, p.34-36
/ref> Peter I also strengthened state control over the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
. Peter's reforms provoked a series of palace coups seeking to restore the power of the nobility.Nicolai N. Petro, ''The Rebirth of Russian Democracy: An Interpretation of Political Culture'', Harvard University Press, 1995,
Google Print, p.36-39
/ref> To end them,
Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...
, whose reign (1762-1796) is often regarded as the high point of absolutism in Russia, in 1785 issued the
Charter to the Gentry Charter for the Rights, Freedoms, and Privileges of the Noble Russian Gentry also called Charter to the Gentry or Charter to the Nobility was a charter issued in 1785 by the Russian empress Catherine II. It recognized the corps Corps (; plu ...
, legally affirming the rights and privileges they had acquired in preceding years, and the Charter of the Towns, establishing municipal self-government. This placated the powerful classes of society, but left real power in the hands of the state bureaucracy. Building on this, Alexander I (reigned 1801-1825) established the State council as an advisory legislative body. Alexander II (1855-1881) established a system of elected local self-government (
Zemstvo A ''zemstvo'' ( rus, земство, p=ˈzʲɛmstvə, plural ''zemstva'' – rus, земства) was an institution of local government set up during the great emancipation reform of 1861 carried out in Imperial Russia by Emperor Alexander ...
) and an independent judicial system, but Russia did not have a national-level representative assembly ( Duma) or a
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princi ...
until the
1905 Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
. The system was abolished after the
Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
.


Features

The
tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
himself, the embodiment of
sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...
authority, stood at the center of the tsarist autocracy, with full power over the state and its people.Stephen J. Lee ''Russia and the USSR, 1855–1991: Autocracy and Dictatorship'', Routledge, 2006.
Google Print, p.1-3
/ref> The autocrat delegated power to persons and institutions acting on his orders, and within the limits of his laws, for the common good of all Russia. The tsar was metaphorically a father, and all of his subjects were his children; this metaphor even appeared in Orthodox primers, and is remembered in the common Russian expression "царь-батюшка" ''tsar-batyushka'' ("tsar-dear father"). Furthermore, contrary to the movement for separation of church and state in West European monarchies, the Russian Empire combined monarchy with the supreme authority on religious issues (see Church reform of Peter I and
caesaropapism Caesaropapism is the idea of combining the social and political power of secular government with religious power, or of making secular authority superior to the spiritual authority of the Church; especially concerning the connection of the Chur ...
for details). Another key feature related to
patrimonialism Patrimonialism is a form of governance in which all power flows directly from the ruler. There is no distinction between the public and private domains. These regimes are autocratic or oligarchic and exclude the lower, middle and upper class ...
. In Russia the tsar owned a much higher proportion of the state (lands, enterprises, etc.) than did Western monarchs. The tsarist autocracy had many supporters within Russia. Major Russian advocates and theorists of the autocracy included writer
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
,Peter Viereck, ''Conservative Thinkers: From John Adams to Winston Churchill'', Transaction Publishers, 2005,
Google Print, pp. 84–86
/ref>James Patrick Scanlan, ''Dostoevsky the Thinker: A Philosophical Study'', Cornell University Press, 2002,
Google Print, p.171-172
/ref>
Mikhail Katkov Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (russian: Михаи́л Ники́форович Катко́в; 13 February 1818 – 1 August 1887) was a conservative Russian journalist influential during the reign of tsar Alexander III. He was a proponent of Ru ...
,
Konstantin Aksakov Konstantin Sergeyevich Aksakov (russian: Константи́н Серге́евич Акса́ков) (10 April 1817 – 19 December 1860) was a Russian critic and writer, one of the earliest and most notable Slavophiles. He wrote plays, social c ...
,
Nikolay Karamzin Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin (russian: Николай Михайлович Карамзин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kərɐmˈzʲin; ) was a Russian Imperial historian, romantic writer, poet and critic. He is best remembered for ...
,
Konstantin Pobedonostsev Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev ( rus, Константи́н Петро́вич Победоно́сцев, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ pəbʲɪdɐˈnostsɨf; 30 November 1827 – 23 March 1907) was a Russian jurist, statesman ...
and Pyotr Semyonov. They all argued that a strong and prosperous Russia needed a strong tsar, and that philosophies of
republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...
and
liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into diff ...
were alien to it.


Influences

Some historians see the traditions of tsarist autocracy as partially responsible for laying groundworks for the
totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
.David Lloyd Hoffmann, ''Stalinism: The Essential Readings'', Blackwell Publishing, 2003, ,
Google Print, p.67-68
/ref> They see the traditions of autocracy and patrimonialism as dominating Russia's political culture for centuries; for example, Stephen White is described as "the most consistent" defender of the position that the uniqueness of Russian political heritage is inseparable from its ethnic identity. In White's opinion, autocracy is the defining factor in the history of Russian politics.Nicolai N. Petro
p. 29
/ref> He wrote that Russian political culture is "rooted in the historical experience of centuries of absolutism." Those views had been challenged by other historians, for example, Nicolai N. Petro and
Martin Malia Martin Edward Malia (March 14, 1924, Springfield, MassachusettsNovember 19, 2004, Oakland, California) was an American historian specializing in Russian history. He taught at the University of California at Berkeley from 1958 to 1991. Malia's bes ...
(as cited by Hoffmann).
Richard Pipes Richard Edgar Pipes ( yi, ריכארד פּיִפּעץ ''Rikhard Pipets'', the surname literally means 'beak'; pl, Ryszard Pipes; July 11, 1923 – May 17, 2018) was an American academic who specialized in Russian and Soviet history. He publi ...
is another influential historian among non-specialists who holds the position about the distinctness of Russian history and political system, describing the absolutism of the Muscovite political system as "patrimonial", and saw the stability of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
in the fact that Russians accepted the legitimacy of this patrimonial organization. Some historians have pointed to a racial element in the concept. For example, American Cold War analysts, including
George Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly histo ...
, linked the Soviet government's autocratic rule to
Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary
is an umbrella term for different
influences during its history, and biographies of Russian leaders often stressed their possible Asiatic ancestries. They maintained that Asiatic influences rendered the Russians, along with the
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...
, untrustworthy.


Criticism of the concept

Historians of different backgrounds have criticised the concept of tsarist autocracy in its various forms. Their complaints range from the different names of the model being too vague, to its chronological implications (it is impossible to consider Russia in different centuries the same) as well as to its content (the question how Russian or "tsarist" autocracy differs from "regular" autocracy or from European absolutism for that matter). Regarding the substance of the autocracy model, its equation with despotism and its supposed origins in Mongol rule, as well as its supposed rise in medieval Muscovy, have been heavily debated. For one, Marxist Soviet scholars were concerned with prerevolutionary absolutism and identified the boyar elites and the bureaucracy as its pillars. For example, Sergey M. Troitskii claimed that the Russian monarchs held sway of the nobility which was reduced to state service. According to Troitskii, absolutism in Russia was the same as everywhere else. This led to a difficult position within Marxism, because absolutism revolves around institutions and laws, which were fundamentally less important than the socioeconomic base of society. This raises the question how absolutism could be the same when socioeconomic circumstances in Russia were not the same as elsewhere. In order to reconcile the non-socioeconomic nature of absolutism with Marxist theory, Soviet scholar Alexander N. Chistozvonov proposed to group the Russian monarchy with the Prussian and Austrian ones, forming a distinct mix of Western European absolutism and "oriental despotism". In the eyes of Chistozvonov, whatever absolutist or autocratic elements were indeed present in Russia, they were not unique and do not warrant Russia’s exclusive categorization. Similarly struggling with Marxist conceptions, Soviet historians Petr A. Zaionchkovskii and his student Larisa G. Zakharova focused on the importance of political convictions of Russian officials and bureaucrats to explain nineteenth-century political decision-making. By showing that the state was not a unified and powerful whole (commanded by the economically dominant class), they likewise tackled common (Marxist) conceptions of Russian autocracy. While like Troitskii, they studied the nobility and bureaucracy (in a later period), Zaionchkovskii and Zakharova painted a different picture of the tsar's position. Coinciding with Western scholars like Robert Crummey, they lay bare the interdependence of monarch and nobility in the practice of rule. Outside Russia and the Soviet Union, Hans-Joachim Torke among others tried to counter the notion of an all-powerful autocratic state by pointing at the mutual dependency of service elites and the state (coining the term "state-conditioned society"). Torke acknowledges that the tsars were not reined in by any form of constitution, but he emphasizes for example the limitations of Christian morality and court customs. The so-called "American school" of the 1980s and 1990s argued for the important role of elite networks and their power at court. Edward Keenan went even further in his well-known piece on Muscovite political culture, claiming that the tsar was merely a puppet in the hands of boyars who wielded the actual power behind the scenes. For others, like David Ransel and Paul Bushkovitch, it goes too far to portray relations between tsar and nobility like Keenan does, because it does not appreciate their complexity. Bushkovitch argues that the theoretic lack of limitations on the power of the tsar is irrelevant and instead claims that the "crucial question" is where real power lay. In his view, this can only be shown by the political narrative of events. Bushkovitch placed the balance of power between the tsar, the individual boyars and the tsar’s favourites at the centre of political decision-making. In so doing, Bushkovitch found that on the one hand, the tsar's relative power fluctuated per monarch, and on the other hand, that the nobility was all but unified; the balance of power changed with each tsar as well as the rise of boyars and in the case of Peter I even shifted multiple times. Charles J. Halperin cautioned against views that too easily claim tsar and state dominance in politics or society. While acknowledging the institutional differences between Muscovy and Western European monarchies, Halperin nevertheless stresses that these differences should not be considered absolute. In his view, the practice of rule, a matter of human interactions, is more important than theory and abstractions.


See also

* Byzantinism *
King-in-Parliament The King-in-Parliament (or, during the reign of a female monarch, Queen-in-Parliament), sometimes referred neutrally as the Crown-in-Parliament, is a technical term of constitutional law in the Commonwealth realms that refers to the Crown in it ...
*
Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality (russian: Правосла́вие, самодержа́вие, наро́дность, Pravoslávie, samoderzhávie, naródnost'), also known as Official Nationality,Riasanovsky, p. 132 was the dominant imper ...
*
Royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...
*
Royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...


Notes

a As used i
those publications
b The existing literature pairs the words ''Russian, tsarist, Muscovite'' and ''imperial'' with ''despotism, absolutism'' and ''autocracy'' in all possible combinations, rarely giving clear definitions. ''Tsarist'' can be indeed applicable to the entire period (see also historical usage of the term "tsar"), but ''Muscovite'' is applicable only to the period of the
Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovite Russia, Muscovite Rus' or Grand Principality of Moscow (russian: Великое княжество Московское, Velikoye knyazhestvo Moskovskoye; also known in English simply as Muscovy from the Lati ...
, which was replaced by
tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I in ...
, a period for which the words ''imperial'' and ''Russian'' are applicable. Further, we can look at ''Muscovite despotism'' as a precursor for the ''tsarist absolutism'', however, the very use of the word despotism has problems (see following note). Finally, care should be taken with the term autocracy: today, autocrat is usually seen as synonymous with despot, tyrant and/or dictator, though each of these terms originally had a separate and distinct meaning. Overall, out of the available terms, "tsarist autocracy" is the one which seems most correct for the entire period discussed, but it is worth keeping in mind that there are no
ideal type Ideal type (german: Idealtypus), also known as pure type, is a typological term most closely associated with sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920). For Weber, the conduct of social science depends upon the construction of abstract, hypothetical con ...
s, and that the Russian political system evolved through time. c As used i
those publications
d As used i
those publications
e As used i
those publications
f As used i
those publications
g As used i
those publications
h As used i
those publications
i As used i
those publications
j As used i
those publications
k The terms ''oriental despotism'' and its development, the ''
Muscovite Muscovite (also known as common mica, isinglass, or potash mica) is a hydrated phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula K Al2(Al Si3 O10)( F,O H)2, or ( KF)2( Al2O3)3( SiO2)6( H2O). It has a highly perfect basal cleavage ...
'' or ''Russian despotism'', have been criticized as misleading, since Muscovy, and Russia, never had characteristics of pure
despotism Despotism ( el, Δεσποτισμός, ''despotismós'') is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. Normally, that entity is an individual, the despot; but (as in an autocracy) societies which limit respect and ...
, such as the ruler being identified with a
god In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
).Tartar Yoke
Professor Gerhard Rempel,
Western New England College Western New England University is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts. Academic programs are provided through its College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Engineering, School of Law, and College of Pharmacy and ...
.
l As used i
those publications
m As used i
those publications
n As used i
those publications


References


Further reading

* Paul Dukes, ''The Making of Russian Absolutism, 1613–1801'', Longman, 1986 * Marshall T. Poe, ''"Russian despotism" : the origins and dissemination of an early modern commonplace''. Thesis (Ph.D. in history).
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
, 1993. * Hugh Ragsdale, ''The Russian Tragedy: The Burden of History'', M.E. Sharpe, 1996, * Richard Pipes, ''Russia under the Old Regime'', (Penguin 1995),


External links


Excerpts from Statesman's Handbook for Russia
By the Chancery of the Committee of Ministers, St. Petersburg. 1896. * by
Kraut ''Kraut'' is a German word recorded in English from 1918 onwards as an ethnic slur for a German, particularly a German soldier during World War I and World War II. Its earlier meaning in English was as a synonym for sauerkraut, a traditional ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsarist Autocracy Monarchy Political history of Russia Tsardom of Russia Politics of the Russian Empire Society of the Russian Empire